MOBILE, Ala. — Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who backed litigation that resulted in the redrawing of Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, called next week’s election a historic opportunity for the state’s voters.
Holder appeared with the district's Democratic nominee Shomari Figures at a series of Monday campaign stops in Mobile. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Holder chairs, supported the legal battle that led to the district being redrawn into a competitive seat where Black voters have the opportunity to influence the outcome.
Standing at the pulpit of Big Zion AME Zion Church, which has a 182-year history in Mobile, Holder said the nation owes a debt to the voting rights movement that began in Alabama in places like Selma and Birmingham. The way to repay that debt is to vote, he said as he urged the gathered crowd to support Figures.
“He’ll also fight for that ultimate progress where justice, fairness and equality are just the norm, not something that we point to as abnormal,” Holder said of Figures. Holder, who is Black, invoked the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. that the arc of the moral universe “bends toward justice,” but added that people "must put our hands on that arc and pull it towards justice.”
Figures, who worked in the Obama White House and as a former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, faces Republican Caroleene Dobson, a real estate attorney and political newcomer, in the Nov. 5 election. The Figures campaign is being joined by several high-profile Democrats as he seeks to rally turnout. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will appear at a Figures event in Montgomery later in the week.
“We can again show America that Alabama can lead the way," Figures said Monday. “Because the truth about this seat is that this seat is at the center of determining who will be in control of the House of Representatives.”
After Holder’s appearance in Mobile, Dobson campaign spokesperson Drew Dickson issued a statement saying the race will be decided by voters, not endorsements.
“The Second Congressional District race will not be decided because a bunch of liberal Washington insiders, has-beens, and wannabes come to Alabama and endorse a candidate,” Dickson said. “It will be decided by the endorsements that are made neighbor-to-neighbor, friend-to-friend, and church member-to-church member,” Dickson continued.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that Alabama had likely violated the Voting Rights Act by drawing congressional lines with one majority Black seat out of seven in a state where 27% of its population is Black. A three-judge panel redrew the lines to give Black residents, who now make up nearly 49% of the voting age population in District 2, a chance at influencing the outcome of the election.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report ranks the district as “likely Democrat.” However, both campaigns have stressed the race is competitive.
Both Holder and Figures at an earlier event noted that the legal fight that created the district is not finished. The district was created because a court issued a preliminary injunction blocking use of the state's prior map. The lawsuit is set to go to trial in February.
Holder, whose late sister-in-law Vivian Malone enrolled at the University of Alabama in 1963 over the objections of then-Gov. George Wallace, said that Alabama officials had resisted the redrawing “in a way that echoed which occurred from Alabama back in the 60s.” Holder said he believes after the next round of litigation the new district lines will be affirmed.
“Government officials here in Alabama should accept that, and I hope that they will," Holder said.
